667 Km Metro Rail Lines Operational in 18 Cities, 934 Km Under Construction

New Delhi: Addressing the Members of Parliament (MPs) of the Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) yesterday, Hardeep S Puri, Minister of State (MoS) for Housing & Urban Affairs, stated regarding urban transport that 667 km of metro rail lines are presently operational in 18 cities, and about 934 km (including the 82 km Delhi-Meerut RRTS) are under construction in various cities.

“Our other initiatives in urban transport include: National Urban Transport Policy, which seeks to promote greater use of public transport and non-motorized modes of travel and use of cleaner technologies; Metro Rail Policy which bridges the much-needed gap for ascertaining and enhancing the feasibility of metro rail projects from economic, social and environmental perspective; Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Policy, 2017 to encourage compact mixed-use development which reduces the need for travel and improve the access to public transport within the walkable distance of transit stations; National Common Mobility Card to enable seamless travel by different metros and other transport means across the country besides retail shopping and purchases, is also India’s first indigenously developed AFC System which fulfils the dream of One Nation One Card; Metrolite – Cost effective Metro system for tier-2 and tier-3 cities; and Metroneo being formulated envisages standards for rubber tyre-based mass rapid transit system with exclusive right of way as an option for public transport in smaller cities,” Puri added.

Puri had earlier welcomed all MPs of the Consultative Committee attached to the MoHUA and stated that the Government is implementing Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U), Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) and Metro Rails. He said that these complement each other helping the all-round development of cities.

The meeting was attended by Members of Parliament, M V V Satyanaraya, Ramcharan Bohra, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Rajmani Patel, KTS Tulsi, and Sanjay Singh.

Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA, and senior officers of the Ministry also attended the meeting. Mishra gave an overall view of various missions of the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry. This was followed by presentations by the respective Mission Directors about their missions.

Source: Indus Dictum

Image Courtesy: Orient Rail Journeys